Not so sweet?

From the 1980s to the 1990s there has been a 35% increase in the consumption of fruit drinks and a 41% increase in the consumption of soft drinks.
In the 1990s the main sugar in most soft drinks changed from glucose to sucrose. Fructose or fruit sugar is perceived as better for you,  now almost all fructose in drinks is derived from 'high-fructose corn syrup'.
High fructose corn syrup is actually 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Sugar (sucrose) is one fructose molecule and one glucose molecule (50:50) therefore, in relation to your body, sugar and high fructose corn syrup are essentially the same thing.
Most people in the western world are consuming 63 pounds of sugar a year most hidden in drinks and foods containing high fructose corn syrup.
Cola drinks however, contain 2 different  ingredients, caffeine which makes you go to the toilet more, and sodium which makes you thirsty. All to make you consume more of their drink.
Fructose sounds like a better sugar to use, because your body cannot use it as an immediate energy source, but fresh fruit, containing fructose also contains fibre, which slows down the the release of fructose, making it difficult to consume too much. This fibre however, is not so common within fruit drinks themselves.